Occupy Philadelphia
Laura Goldman
It's time for us to check in with occupations in major cities across the country. Demonstrations launched in New Orleans, Portland, and Austin (to name a few) yesterday.

And as a sign that this whole movement is gaining momentum, most of these new protests are starting with hundreds, sometimes thousands of protesters showing up on day one.

According to our sources at Occupy Wall Street, people from other cities approached them about how their camp is organized, so you see the same things being done across the country. You see the human microphone, and you see the same chants.

Of course, we'll also check in with cities that have been going for a bit, like San Francisco and Washington DC. And we'll let you know which cities will be seeing occupations in the coming days.

Seattle

On Wednesday two dozen protesters were arrested for illegally putting up tents in Westlake Park. Most have been arraigned and released without bail.

Now the Mayor is going to allow protesters to camp out in City Hall Park, which has bathrooms, during the night.

Portland

Occupy Portland started yesterday with 10,000 marchers. 600 of them stayed over night. They're occupying Chapman Square, which is annoying Seattle marathon runners. The Mayor is trying to find a solution to that problem, but the protesters say they are confident that they can all share the space.

Occupy DC

Yesterday, the Stop The Machine protest was held in DC. Its an anti-war protest, and while the Occupy DC protesters expressed their solidarity with (and some attended) Occupy Wall Street, they want to keep it clear that they are a separate movement.

They also have a sense of humor. They made this video pretending to be The 1% riding the DC metro. They play a pretty awesome song at the end too.

Houston

Houston started their occupation yesterday in front of City Hall. They were only about 60 strong.

New Orleans

Here's a video of the protesters doing the "This is what democracy looks like" chant on their first day.

They're protesting inside City Hall:

San Francisco

Around 1:00 AM Friday morning, San Francisco police busted up an Occupy San Diego camp outside of the city's Federal Reserve building. They drove up with trucks, and started loading up the protesters' supplies.

A city Supervisor (like a Councilman), John Avalos, had tried to negotiate between the police and protesters before the raid. But soon after he left, the two groups started clashing. When he heard of the police's actions he said: "This is not the San Francisco I know, I stand with Occupy SF."

The Mayor said that while the protesters' right to demonstrate had to be respected, streets also had to remain clear and safe for pedestrians as well.

“I think public safety is a huge issue here,” Varley said. She added that the Tea Party will seek the costs of the Occupy Boston protest and cleanup and “will be looking into recouping those costs for the taxpayers in the city of Boston.”

Somehow, this position seems strange to us.

Oh, and they're getting a boost from unions too.

Chicago

Occupy Chicago had to move to 500 Michigan (they were outside the Chicago Fed) because their numbers have grown so much.

Minneapolis

Like Philadelphia, they also have Mayor Rybak's support. Here's what he wrote about it in his blog:

“…at a time when so many people are hurting, and we wonder about our economic future, we all have to get up off the sidelines and help bring more fairness back to our state and country. We may not all agree with what we hear, but the good news is that more and more people are unwilling to silently watch the inequity get worse.”